


I'll see you at the tangent

by winterbling



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-11 18:37:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11720154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterbling/pseuds/winterbling
Summary: Or the gap in the official report of how Captain Nam Woohyun escaped a black hole and went straight into a wormhole and parallel universe.





	1. Chapter 1

 

            “For how long this time?” Myungsoo hovered behind him as he stuffed random things into a suitcase. A jacket here, some underwear there, even a scarf from an ex – not that it’ll make much of a difference because the space capsules are always the same temperature. Woohyun hummed, too preoccupied to answer.  The younger’s voice was indifferent, pretending like it didn’t matter to him either way when Woohyun came back.

 

            Honestly Myungsoo is just as terrible at lying as Woohyun is with multi-tasking.

 

            “You should keep better track of your fuel,” Myungsoo said with an edge to his voice when he didn’t receive a reply. “They’ll hardly let you off with crashing the whole ship again because you forgot to refuel before leaving Andromeda’s space station.”

 

            “I know, Myungsoo.” Woohyun sighed, getting up and mindlessly circling his dorm for things he forgot. A stuffed toy of Stitch was wedged underneath his pillow, an old relic from Earth and one of the million things that caught Dongwoo’s fancy during his trips. Woohyun pulled it out, regarding it with some amusement before tossing it into his luggage. He had plenty of space to spare anyway.

 

            “Why are you bringing so much?” Myungsoo was still hovering behind him, close enough that Woohyun could feel his body warmth even over the regulated temperature of the space station.

 

            “To keep me company,” Woohyun replied distractedly as he finished his circuit. He turned around, unsurprisingly bumping into Myungsoo who stumbled back, hastily settling his expression into one of supreme disinterest. “I’ll bring you something nice back, okay?”

 

            Myungsoo’s face twisted into a fascinatingly ugly expression. “Yeah, sure, whatever.” He muttered, shifting in place uncertainly like he was trying to decide if he should storm out dramatically.

 

            Woohyun grinned, reading through him all too easily and grabbing him into a headlock, furiously ruffling his hair as Myungsoo yelped and struggled in his hold. “Shut up and give me a hug, you brat.”

 

            “I will if you stop pulling that damn disappearing act so much!” Myungsoo’s voice was muffled by his arm, though it came out clearly enough. Woohyun pretended not to hear it, giving him one last ruffle for good measure before stepping back. He picked up his luggage, turning towards the door and almost falling over the raised step as Myungsoo launched himself at his back in a crushing hug.

 

            “Come back soon, hyung.” Myungsoo said quietly into his ear as Woohyun swayed and stabilised them. “Take photos of pretty things.”

 

/

 

            Woohyun grunted, curling himself over Sunggyu’s back, hips thrusting forward erratically as the man under him moaned, sinking deeper into the pillow and raising his ass higher to take in Woohyun.

 

            “Fuck, ah, right there, _Woohyun._ ” Sunggyu gasped, twisting in Woohyun’s hold as a spasm rocked through him and clenching down on Woohyun hard enough for him to falter at the shock of pleasure before picking up. Woohyun kissed his nape, one hand coming up to twist at nipples as the other one grasped him with messy strokes.

 

            Sunggyu mewled at the onslaught of sensation, spreading his legs further for Woohyun. Woohyun pulled out, his cock twitching at the loss of heat and picking up a half-lidded and pleasured-dazed Sunggyu onto his lap. “What? I – oh.” Sunggyu sighed softly, wrapping his legs around Woohyun and teasing himself with the tip of Woohyun’s cock at his entrance before letting him slide in.

 

            “Who are you going to fuck during your trip?” Sunggyu asked breathlessly, not needing a cue to start bouncing in Woohyun’s lap, riding him with what Woohyun would like to imagine was a desperation that went deeper than a need to come. Not that they were in love, but Woohyun was a romantic and lover of all things tragic.

 

            “I don’t know, probably – ” Woohyun choked as Sunggyu swivelled his hips and clenched around Woohyun. Fuck, Woohyun was going to _miss_ this. Sunggyu had an ass that _talked_. “Someone. Anyone.” Woohyun finished, groaning and thrusting faster, cock growing harder in Sunggyu at the satisfyingly slick sound of skin slapping skin.

 

            “Won’t be half as good as me anyway,” Sunggyu taunted, his exhalation a warm gust of air in Woohyun’s ear. His pace on Woohyun’s lap picked up suddenly and then he was arching, warm cum splattering on their stomachs and tightening around Woohyun.

 

            Woohyun pulled out for the second time, pushing Sunggyu towards his achingly heavy cock. Sunggyu got the hint immediately, wrapping his lips around his cock and sucking with an impressive strength as Woohyun tangled his fingers in his hair and fucked his warm mouth until he was coming down Sunggyu’s throat with a drawn-out groan, the other’s throat squeezing the head of his cock of every last drop.

 

            He fell back onto the mattress, just barely aware of the comforting pressure of Sunggyu’s lips on his cock and balls as he licked every drop of cum away. Sunggyu crawled over him, regarding him with an unusually serious look that Woohyun missed as he pulled Sunggyu down for a languid kiss.

 

            “Fuck,” he murmured against the other’s lips, tongue lazily swirling over lips and tongue and teeth, tasting himself with a certain amount of satisfaction. “You’re so good at this, baby. So, so, good. My good little cockslut, I’m going to miss you.” Woohyun continued to croon breathless endearments incoherently into the other’s skin until Sunggyu pulled away, resting his arms against Woohyun’s shoulders and regarding him solemnly, shaking away Woohyun’s hand when it came up to stroke his cheek.

 

            Woohyun frowned for a moment at the rejection but shrugged, ready to fall asleep now that he got his fix. “Woohyun,” Sunggyu called, annoyingly loud and poking at his cheek when Woohyun ignored him.

 

            “What?” Woohyun snapped, one eye opened to glare at Sunggyu half-heartedly. The other man didn’t say anything for a while, just continued to stare at Woohyun with that strange gaze. He was just about to snap at him again for interrupting his sleep when Sunggyu finally spoke. “Be careful,” Sunggyu’s voice was tentative, eyes lowering to trace at the moles on Woohyun’s collarbones with a fingertip.

 

            Woohyun laughed, bemused. Neither of them were the sort who actually talked – unless it was dirty talking – and this was the first time Sunggyu had said anything that remotely resembled concern.

 

            “What?” he tried to hold back a scoff, not really knowing how to deal with this version of Sunggyu. “Since when have you cared? Or is it because you like my cock too much to lose it?” Woohyun immediately regrets the words that fell out of his big mouth, even more so when Sunggyu narrowed his eyes and made to push off his chest.

 

            “Hey, hey, don’t leave yet.” Woohyun tried to placate the other, wrapping his arms around Sunggyu.

 

            “Fuck you, let go.” Sunggyu growled, turning away and refusing to look at Woohyun.

 

            Woohyun sat up suddenly, almost dislodging Sunggyu entirely who made a surprised sound as he swayed alarmingly close to the edge of the bed. Woohyun grabbed the opportunity to wind all four of his limbs around him, not caring when his still tender cock pressed too hard against Sunggyu’s hip for his liking. “I’m sorry, didn’t mean that.” He pressed his face onto Sunggyu’s shoulder, tightening his arms. “You know what I’m like.”

 

            Sunggyu didn’t say anything, but at least he had stopped trying to wriggle out of Woohyun’s hold. After a moment his hand came up to clasp Woohyun’s wrist, an oddly affectionate gesture. “Yeah, it’s too bad that I do.” Sunggyu snorted. There was a short pause, one that felt more intimate than usual. Woohyun was half-afraid to break it, not sure what to make of the whole situation but wholly uncomfortable all the same.

 

           “Come back quickly,” Sunggyu still wasn’t looking at Woohyun when he spoke, gaze fixed on the other side of the room – an action that tried and failed to conceal the honesty in his voice. “I’ll miss you.”

 

            If it weren’t for his vice-like grip on Sunggyu, Woohyun was absolutely sure that _he_ would have fallen off the bed. Thankfully he at least had the sense to keep his mouth shut this time. Sunggyu’s voice was hard, almost uncaring, but Woohyun wasn’t stupid enough to miss that this was probably the most that Sunggyu would ever be willing to give away. They were fuck buddies after all. On good days they would fuck and lie on the bed after and throw cum at each other while making filthy jokes. On bad days they swore at each other and Sunggyu would rake deep scratches on his back and bite into his shoulder as Woohyun fucked him unforgivingly against a wall, a desk, whichever he felt like.

 

            Of course, Woohyun wasn’t heartless enough to regard him as a mere piece of ass than a friend but it never registered to him that the same could be said for Sunggyu.

 

            “Okay,” Woohyun agreed unsurely, still disconcerted by the shift. Clearly Sunggyu felt so too, because he shrugged out of Woohyun’s arms and bent his head, wrapping his lips around Woohyun’s soft cock and sucking so hard that Woohyun could only lean back onto the pillows and let the pleasure build up until he was hard again.

 

/

 

            Hoya barked a laugh as Woohyun hobbled into the launching pad the next day, canines showing as he grinned suggestively. “Wow,” he chortled, not bothering to hide his mirth, “Rough night huh? You looked _wrecked_.”

 

            Woohyun threw him a dirty look, straightening up and trying to regain some dignity before wincing immediately. “He’s a beast,” Woohyun muttered, half to Hoya and half to himself, eyes glazed over at the memory. “Six rounds. _Six_. And not even counting the two we had this morning and – where did all this stamina come from?” Woohyun demanded, swinging around to face Hoya whose face was looking more and more amused by the minute. “If I had known earlier – damn was he faking the whole time just to watch me squirm – all the times I was so horny and he just laughed and watched me while I had to jack myself off in front of him – !” Woohyun rambled mindlessly, stopping short when he realised that his voice was getting too loud. He buried his face in his hands with a groan, “I think my dick is going to fall off.”

 

            Hoya patted his back harder than was necessary. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you take care of him while you’re gone. It’s your fault anyway,” he added when Woohyun lifted his head to raise an eyebrow, “Should have accepted my offer for a threesome that time.”

 

            “Yeah, well, sorry but I don’t have that many fucks to give for your libido.” Woohyun said dryly, laughing at his own joke even when Hoya shoved him.

 

            “You are foul,” Hoya scowled at him, “I have no idea how Sunggyu puts up with you.”

 

            “That’s why he likes me,” Woohyun said with exaggerated patience as he stumbled towards his ship, “Because I’m filthy and he loves it.” He ducked the paper ball Hoya threw at him, chuckling as he closed the door behind him. Thank god Sunggyu wasn’t there, he would have demolished him for broadcasting their activities to the rumour mill called their crewmates. Woohyun laughed again he buckled himself into his seat and the ship started backing out of the space station, Hoya standing there like a sentry with both middle fingers raised at him.

 

           Contrary to everyone’s impression, Woohyun wasn’t on a holiday. He was supposed to report on any unidentified comets and whatnot circling around. Starlight is old light, but everyone knows that. But not everyone knows exactly which star is giving it out, and that means that it’s hard to keep track of which star is going to die and form a black hole or something equally dangerous. There are too many damn stars to keep track of and even the people manning the control centre, aliens or Earthlings alike, miss out on loads so most of the stuff they report are half-done or inaccurate or completely wrong. It’s not much of a difference from Earth, really, but at least Woohyun knows now that inefficiency is a universal problem.

 

           It’s just that this time, his job involved travelling to the edges of discovered territory where there were hardly any space stations around. Dangerous, but it also meant that Woohyun was absolutely free to poke his nose around at anything that caught his fancy without someone reprimanding him for wasting fuel. In Woohyun’s book this meant a paid vacation.

 

            A spark of familiar excitement jumped in his chest as the massive gates closed and the ship was dropped off into absolute nothingness. “Status, Captain Nam?” Sunggyu’s voice came over the speakers, back to cool indifference and professionalism, nothing that would give him away.

 

            Unfortunately Woohyun had more than enough immaturity for the both of them. “Pulled out fine, Sir.” Yep, Woohyun was shamelessly fucking his boss and he grabbed every opportunity to throw in innuendoes that no one but them would know about. A dangerous silence fell which Woohyun quickly broke with unnecessary reports on cabin pressure levels and speed before cutting off.

 

            On hindsight, this almost topped the list of stupidest things he had ever done, second only to the time when he combined Andromedian whiskey (?) with powder of an unknown substance while in the middle of an orgy with the beauties on Venus. Suffice to say Woohyun had to go about with a pink and purple coloured hard-on for a week.

 

            It was one thing to cut off your commanding officer’s words, another thing to leave the communications off just to avoid hearing about punishments that would no doubt be meted out to him and would with even less doubt put a damper on his whole trip, but it was a _whole different thing_ to completely forget to turn the damn thing back on and miss the reports on the stellar black hole that popped up on their readings, at the edge of space, directly in his path, sucking him in like the total sucker he was.

 

/

 

            “Oh, shit!” Woohyun cursed, a little too late considering that the spacecraft was already tilting its course, veering way out of its path with increasing velocity towards the one thing every single space pilot prayed to avoid – not counting Sunggyu’s wrath.

 

            Everyone knows about black holes, they were pretty much one of the first things they were taught at the Academy. Rule number 1: Avoid at all costs. For all of mankind’s progress, they’ve only managed to establish several facts about black holes; the first being that engineering hasn’t managed to create ships that could withstand the gravity of a black hole; the second, that any poor fool who got himself sucked into one would find himself circling the event horizon indefinitely, caught in time while the universe spun by, or most likely, a bunch of information floating all over the universe(s), annihilated to nothing by the immense gravity.

 

            Woohyun cursed colourfully as he fought to steer the ship away. This was all his own damn fault for setting the plane to autopilot while he went and stared out of the windows at the passing stars and planets like a complete idiot. His hands slammed frantically on every button, accidentally turning the communications back on in his haste. An avalanche of warnings and reports flooded the screen instantly – all messages pertaining to a black hole and mingling with private comms from Sunggyu. Woohyun would almost be amused by the uncharacteristic panic in his messages if he wasn’t more interested in saving his stupid ass.

 

            The ship was shuddering alarmingly now, fighting against the irresistible gravity of the hell hole. Woohyun threw all his years of experience onto the panels, abandoning them in favour of brute strength on the joystick and sheer luck when it failed. When the outline of the black hole started to take shape, Woohyun reached over to the comms buttons and very deliberately pressed it, keeping his eyes on the approaching black hole.

 

            “Base, do you read me? This is Captain Nam, over.”

 

            The radio crackled to life, Sunggyu’s voice came over the speakers loud enough for Woohyun to wince. “Captain Nam, what the fuck? Where are you and what happened? Over,” he added almost as an afterthought.

 

            Woohyun squinted at the radio, half-tempted to ignore it until he got some other officer that wasn’t Sunggyu. “I’m in Vrg A, approaching black hole BY-4743, over.” He finally said grudgingly, the annoyance overshadowing everything for a moment.

 

            There was a silence and when Sunggyu spoke again Woohyun could practically feel the anger rolling off in waves from the other man, never mind the thousands of light years that separated them. “How close are you to the event horizon? Escape via the capsule pod. Reinforcements from Centaurion will be dispatched immediately. Over.”

 

            “No, Sir.” Woohyun swallowed, the enormity of what is about to happen crushing down on him. “I’m too close to the event horizon, the escape pod can’t escape the gravitational pull.” Before Sunggyu could start a furious tirade he hurried on, “I’m going to attempt a crash landing on dwarf planet Merissa, over.”

 

            “There are too many meteoroids circling Merissa, Captain Nam. Escape via the pod immediately, over!” Sunggyu ordered, voice hard and brooking no argument. Woohyun stared at the radio, hearing the slight tremble that he would have missed if he wasn’t so familiar with it. Sunggyu was panicking, a sight that Woohyun had never seen in all the years that they had known each other and frankly it unnerved him. Not the fact that he was going to potentially die (which is a very likely scenario that he had always prepared himself for – it’s a job hazard and Woohyun was very responsible when it comes to his job. Normally.), but at this side of Sunggyu that suddenly seemed less like Colonel Kim, less like the Sunggyu who warmed his bed and his skin, not even like the Sunggyu who threw snark at him in hallways when no one was around, but more like a Sunggyu who cared enough for Woohyun to curse at him over radio and actually panic over him.

 

            What the hell? And now he wouldn’t even have the chance to go back and pester him about what this means.

 

            Or maybe it’s a good thing since Woohyun has never been very good with handling emotions, especially other people’s.  It’s more likely that he’ll say something wrong and get permanently reassigned to another far-off galaxy.

 

            A bleeping from the screen reminded him that if he was going to crash land, it better be _now._ Woohyun was half-tempted to smash the thing to shut it up, fat help it was for warning him earlier. “Captain Nam? Do you read me? Over.” Sunggyu was still talking, his voice rising a bit.

 

            “I’m still going to crash land,” Woohyun insisted, snorting to himself when he imagined Sunggyu’s scandalized expression. “I might not make it. Tell Myungsoo I said goodbye, over.”

 

            There was a short, tense silence. “Roger,” Sunggyu eventually said, tone back to indifferent professionalism.

 

            Woohyun set to work preparing for a landing but not before holding on the button and hesitating slightly before saying, “You too, goodbye Sunggyu.” From there it was a mess of stabbing at the panel, fighting with the joystick while ignoring the distracting messages from the comms and cursing. Plentifully.

 

            The black hole loomed ahead of him, a bottomless darkness that stood out like an ink smudge against the constellations and planets dotting the vast space. The black hole was massive, one of the biggest known and Woohyun was close enough that he knows, even without any data to interpret, that he has entered the zone of time dilation. Meaning, even if he somehow managed to escape this, god knows how much time had passed back at Base. The ship wobbled, straining to escape the pull and out of nowhere, like a miracle, a comet came hurtling by, hitting the side of the spacecraft and breaking its path.

 

            Woohyun’s lunch attempted to crawl its way up when the ship started flipping crazily.

 

            When it stabilised, Woohyun realised that miraculously, the spacecraft had stopped moving towards the black hole and was moving in the opposite direction that was – “Where the hell is this going?” he barked at the panel, jerking the joystick and finding no response from the vehicle.

 

           A bright flash of light ahead drew this attention to the comet that had hit him earlier. Woohyun squinted his eyes at it before understanding dawned on him that his ship was fucking following the comet into – is that a wormhole?!

 

            “Oh, shit! No no no no no noooo!!!” Woohyun babbled, desperately trying to manoeuvre the spacecraft away. First a black hole, then a comet and now a wormhole into god knows where. Woohyun hates his life.

 

            Almost as though the comet could hear him, it pulsed with brightness mockingly and then they were gaining speed, hurtling through space towards the mouth of the wormhole which glowed faintly, undulating and deceivingly pretty. The ship wasn’t even in his control anymore, it seemed to be attracted to the comet by some kind of force, bouncing along like a toy car behind a running kid. The closest semblance to control Woohyun had was to shift it out of the path of meteors that threatened to smash him into pieces. Not as much as a black hole but still.

 

            The comet plunged into the wormhole, dragging Woohyun along. The last signal he got was when the radio burst into a bunch of static and Sunggyu’s voice, frantic and loud, rising above it all, “Captain Nam? Do you read me? Woohyun? Woohyun!”

 

            The radio crackled to silence, even the bleeping silenced as the spacecraft went through the wormhole. At this point Woohyun decided that he didn’t care anymore and promptly reclined in his seat, staring out the Plexiglass window and reciting every fact about wormholes aloud. He’s going to be in another galaxy, or another time, or another goddamn universe for all he knows so he might as well get used to his own company.

 

            Goodbye, cruel world!

 

/

 

            Sunggyu swore loudly, gripping the edge of the table as he glared at the blinking dot on the screen, signifying Woohyun’s position. That _idiot_.

 

            “Send reinforcements,” Sunggyu ordered through gritted teeth, gaze still fixed on the flashing dot as it approached the black hole. “Try to intercept SK 6474 before it reaches Merissa.”

 

            “Yes, Sir.” The sergeant set to work speaking into the intercom, tapping the keyboard feverishly. There was a sharp beep, and abruptly, the blinking light disappeared. The two of them stared at the screen for a moment before the sergeant’s voice sounded, “SK 6474, Captain Nam, do you read me? Over.”

 

            Nothing, not even static.

 

            “Captain Nam? Please respond if you are there, over.”

 

            “Captain Nam? Captain Nam – ” Sunggyu lay a hand on his shoulder, cutting him off. The sergeant glanced up at him questioningly. “That’s enough.” Sunggyu said, trying to keep his voice steady. “Call off the reinforcements, keep an eye out for any signal from SK 6474.” With that, he turned on his heel and strode off.

 

            Sunggyu wasn’t familiar with Myungsoo, he knew that he was a junior technician and that he liked hanging off of Woohyun on the rare days that they saw each other in the cafeteria. Most of the things he knew of Kim Myungsoo were from pillow talks with Woohyun where the man would go on and on about how Myungsoo did what today and how adorable he is. It was somewhat endearing, the way Woohyun unconsciously revolved around Myungsoo like a proud father even if he liked to tell himself otherwise.

 

            Sometimes, just sometimes, as Sunggyu leaned on his elbows and watched Woohyun talk, with his hair in a bird’s nest from Sunggyu’s rough fingers, he would have the fleeting wish that it was him that Woohyun thought about. Not that there was anything worth getting jealous about because they were fuck buddies, nothing more, nothing else, and Woohyun treated Myungsoo just like a little brother.

 

            A little brother that Sunggyu had the unfortunate duty of informing.

 

            “Colonel Kim!” Myungsoo snapped his heels together, a rather comical sight considering that he was clad in nothing but boxers, hair still glistening with water. Clearly Myungsoo was just as aware of that for he was flushing red, barely able to meet Sunggyu’s eyes.

 

            “Kim Myungsoo?” Sunggyu enquired, though it was hardly necessary. Myungsoo’s face was imprinted in his mind as irrevocably as Woohyun’s.

 

            “Yes, Sir. Am I needed for something?” Myungsoo straightened his back. Sunggyu was mildly impressed, it took barely three seconds for this kid to shift from embarrassment to professionalism, the whole demeanour changing even as goosebumps rose on his skin from the lack of clothes.

 

            Sunggyu didn’t say anything for a while, merely looked at him, at the wide-eyed innocence that lingered at the edges of his irises. Carefully, precisely, he laid out a summary of the events of the past hour and watched as that innocence broke into glistening shards that hovered but didn’t fall. He watched as Myungsoo gave a curt acknowledgement, watched his own feet that led him to his own cabin, watched his own reflection sit down at the table and watched, just watched, as his world slowly dismantled itself into the metal monstrosity of the Base.

 

            There was no coming back from a planet that was as close to the black hole as Merissa. Even if he did, it wouldn’t be anytime soon.

 

            As far as he knows, Woohyun is gone.

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

            The spacecraft jolted and just as quickly as they had entered, they were out of the wormhole. The comet was still racing ahead, still pulling them along so Woohyun shrugged and walked over to the window and gazed out. He didn’t know what he expected, maybe square-shaped planets or neon coloured stars or something, but he certainly didn’t expect it to look exactly the same. Hell, even the black hole was still there but thankfully they were moving away from it. 

 

            Woohyun leaned closer to the glass, peering at the passing stars and planets, completely forgetting his _situation_ for a while. No matter how many times he flew out, solo or not, the sheer vastness of space, with all the planets and stars and comets hanging suspended, rotating slowly or speeding by quickly, never failed to make the constant restlessness in his chest quieten to a childlike wonderment.

 

            A sudden brightness made him yelp and he stumbled back, shielding his eyes. There was a tapping sound on the glass and Woohyun’s hand dropped before immediately regretting it.

 

            The brightness was still there, as bright as the sun but right outside the glass panel (which means fifty million times brighter) and…is it _tapping_ on the glass? With a _finger_?

 

            “Hey!” a voice issued out clearly, slightly muffled which was probably the effect of the glass – wait what?

 

            “Hey, could you lower your hand for a moment and look at me? It’s rude to do that when someone’s talking to you.”

 

            Screw this, Woohyun was way too curious to know who the hell is this light thing to give a damn about his eyesight. He tore his hand away from his face, keeping his eyes squinted. “Okay, but could you like, shine a bit less?”

 

            “Right, sorry. I forgot.” The light dimmed immediately and when Woohyun opened his eyes, afterimages still dancing across his vision, there was a human figure floating right outside the window, grinning at him.

 

            Woohyun gaped at him. The thing smiled back.

 

            “Wow,” he said, half to himself. “Floating…human-like creatures that glow like a sun. In…space. So this is what happens when you enter a black hole.”

 

            The creature looked a bit annoyed, “You didn’t fall through a black hole! You came through a wormhole.”

 

            “Oh yeah, forgot about that.” Woohyun muttered to himself, “A comet smacked into me and dragged me along through a wormhole into…” here he looked out, at the blank screen and back to the creature. “…wherever this is.” He finished.

 

            The creature flapped his hands (?), “I’m not a comet, I’m a star! Wow, you humans are so ignorant compared to everyone else.”

 

            Woohyun ignored the jab. “No, you’re not. Stars don’t fly around. Neither do they resemble humans.”

 

            The creature seemed to squint at him. “How did you become a pilot with a head like that?” Before Woohyun could open his mouth to retort the creature went on, “Speaking of head, your hair looks horrible. Who cut it? They ought to be exiled.”

 

            Again, Woohyun ignored him. His head was spinning, there was way too much happening at the same time. Things that didn’t make sense apparently made sense. Like the remark about his hair (He looks hot, okay? Even with the little tumble. Like just fucked in the mouth hot).

 

            Woohyun slowly turned around and walked over to his control panel, trying to regain his bearings. The creature floated along, its brightness lighting up the darkened hallways as Woohyun walked. The control panel, just like everything else in the ship, was completely dark. Unresponsive. As though it was merely parked into a garage instead of hovering in space.

 

            “What’s my position?” Woohyun asked aloud, half to himself. The creature was in front of him now, practically in his face with how close he was. “I don’t know,” the creature replied, “But Merissa’s over there, if it helps.” A glowy finger pointed off somewhere.

 

            “Okay, okay.” Woohyun took a deep breath, “So that means I’m probably near Vrg A.” Woohyun’s no physicist, he isn’t even someone who regularly fell into situations like this – he _is_ a very good pilot, mind you – but the most likely explanation is that he’s in a parallel universe. Which means that the way back would be –

 

            “I need to go back through the wormhole.” Woohyun declared, reaching for the buttons before he remembered. “Can you drive me back?” He demanded of the creature, not really caring if he made sense anymore. That’s the least of his concerns now.

 

            “You know,” the creature said, bouncing itself up and down lazily, “The least you can do is to offer someone something to drink before you ask for favours like that.”

 

            The creature has an insane appetite. Meaning, that it ate a lot more than Woohyun can really afford to offer in his current predicament. Also, it eats literally everything. Even a soggy egg mayo Woohyun found in the preserver from his last recon trip. Woohyun couldn’t think of a stranger sight that a human-shaped creature, still glowing like a torch, seated in the grey chair of the pantry and munching away like Hoya would whenever he came over to annoy Woohyun. If Woohyun didn’t feel like walking out of the doorway into space himself, he would have said that it felt like an alternate reality.

 

            “So can you drive me back?” Woohyun asked again, getting straight to the point as soon as it slowed down in its systematic annihilation of the food supply.

 

            “Drive you where?” The creature said instead, looking around for a napkin Woohyun tossed to him.

 

            “Back through the wormhole. I wanna go home.” There was a slight whine in his own voice that Woohyun didn’t quite like. Then again there’s a lot of things that Woohyun didn’t quite like about himself, which is partly the reason why he preferred to go out on solo trips for long periods of time where he didn’t have to hide away parts of himself. Not that it did much good considering that he also conveniently gained a rep for being fake and flighty.

 

            “Sorry, can’t do that.” The creature shrugged unapologetically.

 

            “What?” Woohyun couldn’t believe what he heard. Damn, this is why you don’t ever pay up _first_. “Why the hell not? You came through that thing, bringing me along too! Why can’t you bring me back?”

 

            “I need you to do something for me first.” The creature replied, “Also, I can’t go back because I’m not from that place. I’m already pushing it by exiting the wormhole and grabbing you.”

 

            Something felt off to Woohyun but he couldn’t for the life of himself figure out what it was. So instead he latched onto the only thing he caught. “Why should I help you?”

 

            “Because if you don’t I’ll let go and you can fall through space indefinitely.” The creature immediately threatened. Woohyun scowled, not liking it all one bit. “Anyway, why do you want to go back? I looked through your head – awfully empty by the way – and no offence but your life sucks and you clearly think so too.”

 

            “Does it make sense for me to continue hanging around a place where I don’t belong?” Woohyun deadpanned instead. “There’s another me in this universe and I hardly think he’ll be thrilled to see me.”

 

            “You didn’t really belong back there, anyway.” The creature answered, now starting to chew on the twig of the grapes he ate. “I see all of two people in your memories and one of them is someone you get up to _atrocious_ things with.”

 

            “First; you didn’t have permission to look through my head so at least have the decency to shut up about them and second,” Woohyun took a deep break, picking up a twig of grape and starting to shred it to pieces, “What I want doesn’t matter here,” he said firmly, “It’s my job, I won’t put my personal interests before what’s the wrong thing to do.”

 

            Personally, Woohyun just didn’t want to be the reason for a universe collapsing or something. Being bunkmates with Dongwoo gave him plenty of reason to avoid things in the universe that looked like it could be a potential disaster.

 

            The creature gave him a long look. Its glow had somewhat faded, Woohyun made an educated guess that keeping the creature full or relaxed wouldn’t be bad news for his eyesight. This dim (?), Woohyun could make out human-looking features on the face that looked masculine, but he wouldn’t eliminate the possibility of this creature being a girl either.

 

            This creature was kind of pretty after all.

 

            “What’s your name?” Woohyun asked suddenly. “I’m Nam Woohyun.” He stuck out a hand, retracting it immediately when the creature reached out for a handshake. God knows he’s been living just fine with an unmutilated hand.

 

            “Sungyeol.” The creature answered, unperturbed by the rejection. “Look,” Sungyeol said, assuming a business-like stance by leaning his elbows on his knees and fixing Woohyun with what he probably imagined was a piercing look. He just looked cross-eyed, in his opinion. “I can’t bring you back without violating some space laws I’d rather not break a second time, but if you help me, I promise you’ll get back to where you came from.”

 

            “How are you going to promise that?” Woohyun retorted, refusing to fall into a trap the second time.

           

            “Because I’m dying,” Sungyeol said simply, “I’m a star, and when I die I’ll release enough energy to catapult you back through that wormhole for your people to pick you up. But if you don’t agree I’m going to release my gravitational hold on you now and you’ll drop like a rock through space until you hit another rock.”

 

            Woohyun immediately declared his whole-hearted approval of the proposition.

 

/

 

            _“What’s with you?” Sunggyu demanded, shoving at Woohyun’s chest none-too-gently. Woohyun stumbled back a few steps back, grinning widely and pretending that his chest didn’t clench painfully._

 

_He stepped forward, cornering Sunggyu into the corner of the shower stall, letting their body heats mingle with the steam of the shower. Hot water was expensive, but Sunggyu’s daddy was a hella important colonel and his only son had his own personal bunk and bath while the other teens were cramped six in one._

 

_It still worked in his favour anyway, because while the others were reduced to hurried, guilty strokes under their blankets (Woohyun had very sharp ears and an even sharper nose for sniffing out blackmail material in his vicinity), Woohyun had all the privacy he wanted._

 

_If only he could say the same about the boy in front of him._

 

_To his credit, Sunggyu didn’t shift his position in the slightest, just tilted his head and pinned Woohyun with a piercing gaze that ought to remind Woohyun of Colonel Kim but only served to stoke the fire in Woohyun better. They were almost at eye level with each other, in a few years Sunggyu would gain a few inches on Woohyun, enough for him to throw a million jibes about how he can’t help but look past him because you’re too far below my vantage point, sorry. But for now they were eye to eye, nose to nose, almost lips to lips if Sunggyu would just let him in._

 

_“Back off.” Sunggyu growled lowly. He was mad, Woohyun could tell, lips bared and looking like he was ready for an actual fight right here in the shower stall. Woohyun’s hand twitched at the side, itching to reach forward, dying to lean forward._

 

_“No.”_

 

_“Nam Woohyun.” Sunggyu’s voice was warning, his hot breath blowing into Woohyun’s face with the steam. Woohyun’s face was angled now, hovering a hairsbreadth from Sunggyu’s lips and still the other wouldn’t move. Woohyun was generally a cynical person, but he knew Sunggyu enough to know that it isn’t a stretch to believe that Sunggyu was simply refusing to back down, not in the same way Woohyun was._

 

_“Sunggyu.” A breath, a caress, a shaking Woohyun tried to hide, tried to resist. Their noses were brushing now, the tension tauter than ever, both waiting for the other to snap. Woohyun let his lids half fall, his gaze ever steady on Sunggyu’s, trying desperately to convey a modicum of what he felt. “Won’t you let me?” he whispered._

 

_There was a pause, a silence of hot water falling onto the tiled floors._

 

_“No.”_

 

_Sunggyu lifted an arm, sliding his hand up Woohyun’s chest, fingers long and wet and sensual, until it reached his heart and he pushed back._

 

_Woohyun let himself fall back this time, stayed back as Sunggyu deliberately turned his back on him and proceeded to shampoo his hair._

 

_Sunggyu stiffened when Woohyun’s fingers tangled in his hair, relaxing when his grip tightened as he shampooed, fingers massaging the scalp hard. This time, as Woohyun wound his hair around his fingers and turned him around, Sunggyu let him pull his head back and press a bruising, painful kiss._

 

_This time, Sunggyu’s fingers slid down his chest instead, gripping Woohyun’s half-hard cock with just as much strength, soap sliding over wet skin as he squeezed and stroked and rubbed his thumb over the head until Woohyun could only dig his fingers into Sunggyu’s hips, pushing his fingers into Sunggyu’s entrance in the same rhythm that Sunggyu stroked him, his head falling onto Sunggyu’s shoulder and tears seeping out of his eyes to join the water from the showerhead._

 

_This time, Sunggyu let him._

 

_That’s all they are._

 

_/_

 

            Sunggyu was distracted the whole day and he knew it. Thankfully he was also the only one to know. The last thing he wants is for his personal issues messing up his job and fuelling the whispers of nepotism that refused to die down. At least he wasn’t the only one, he thought, as he looked across the mess hall and saw Myungsoo miss the basketball hoop yet again, a pathetic number six flashing in neon lights over the scoreboard.

 

            Hardly anyone ever uses that vintage machine these days, most people preferred anti-gravity air hockey with their crewmates outside or even something like paintball out on the roof of the base, but that was probably the exact reason why the man had been hurling the ball aggressively at the hoop for the past hour. Even Hoya, who was normally the loudest one in the room, was acting out of character, sitting in a chair reading a book. Or at least he was trying, if the furrowed eyebrows and vacant gaze were anything to go by.

 

            Sunggyu left them behind, walking out of the room and through the hallways aimlessly. This late at night most people had already left for their bunks and the few people he saw were mostly the most junior officers finishing up their inhumane load of chores who saluted him as they passed, no one who would start a conversation with him.

 

            He came into a tube-shaped corridor, a large one, the biggest in the Base actually, with one side made entirely out of clear glass and a floor of translucent white tiles that glowed different colours every time he stepped on it. The wall behind was dark, deliberately so, with niches that people could sit in and watch the stars and comets and planets outside, glowing in the darkness. Woohyun loved this place, almost as much as he loved getting into his spaceship even though hardly anyone else cared for this corridor. Sunggyu lost count of the number of times Woohyun would randomly disappear and Sunggyu would walk all over the Base before he found the other curled up like a child in the smallest niche, chin resting on folded knees as he stared out, wide-eyed and uncharacteristically quiet, into space.

 

            Sunggyu rested a hand on the pane of glass, his eyes following the glass wall up as it curved into a domed ceiling that showed a million other stars above. It was disorienting sometimes, to look all around and see no landmark, no nothing, just black space and planets and shit and sometimes Sunggyu could almost understand why people tend to avoid this place. It was overwhelming, the vastness of their galaxy, their universe.

 

            And somewhere out there, far away, too far out of his reach, was Woohyun.

 

            Sunggyu walked backwards slowly, gaze fixed on a point he imagined Woohyun to be, until his back hit the wall and he slid down to sit on the floor next to the niche, a position the both of them used to take when Sunggyu found Woohyun and the younger didn’t want to leave just yet.

 

            _“Wanna join me?” Woohyun asked slyly, grin bright in the darkness as he looked down at Sunggyu on the floor._

 

_“How?” Sunggyu scoffed. “We wouldn’t fit.”_

 

_“True, your ass probably can’t get in.” Woohyun mused, laughing as he yanked his legs further into the niche when Sunggyu swung out to punch him. “But you can sit on my lap, if you like.” Woohyun’s voice was casual, not even looking at him anymore._

 

_Woohyun, inappropriate and playful as he was, had always been a hell lot more mature than people gave him credit for. There was a reason why Sunggyu could stand to be around him so much, after all. And Woohyun certainly didn’t say stuff he didn’t mean, nor left other people without openings they couldn’t escape through._

 

_Sunggyu had been the more childish one between them. Always have._

 

_So instead he raised an eyebrow and smirked, “Why? Do you want me to?”_

 

“Would you have wanted me to?” Sunggyu said softly into the darkness, into the emptiness.      

 

            _Woohyun looked taken aback for a moment before he smiled, brighter than Sunggyu expected. “Do you want to?”_

 

“Yeah, I would.”

 

            _“Hell yeah, didn’t think you were such an exhibitionist though.” Sunggyu jibed, getting up from the floor. Woohyun’s smile faltered at that. Before Sunggyu could open his mouth to remark on that it picked up again into the lascivious grin he was used to. “There’s always a first time for everything.”_

 

_The niche was small, but Sunggyu was skinny enough then to fit comfortably on Woohyun’s lap, a certain excitement coursing through at the small space and tight fit between their bodies. Woohyun’s arms snaked around his waist and Sunggyu started to grind down before stopping short._

 

_The younger’s face was buried into his shoulder, arms tight around him._

 

_“Hey, if you hold me like this you’ll have to settle for squirming.” Sunggyu tried to joke, slightly uncomfortable._

 

_Woohyun didn’t answer for a while. When he did his voice was ragged, slightly strained as he said, “You know what? You’re right, let’s take this back to your room. I want to fuck you.”_

 

“Sure you did,” Sunggyu snorted softly to himself, curling up and resting his head on his knees, looking out into the darkness.

 

            Starlight is old light, by the time they reach us the star is gone.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

            “No.” Woohyun deadpanned for the hundredth time, moving around in his cabin aimlessly as he towelled his hair dry. Sungyeol followed after him, looking for all the world like a human-shaped lava lamp.

 

            “You promised to.”

 

            “I did no such thing.” He hung up the towel, pinning Sungyeol with a pointed look. Sungyeol rolled his eyes but turned his back anyway, letting Woohyun drop the other towel from his waist and get into his clothes. Back at home it was something that had always worked in their advantage when Woohyun spent the night at Sunggyu’s. He hated to wriggle into his clothes in the wet bathroom, preferring to walk around the room or roll around on the bed until his skin stopped being so damp his clothes stuck to him.

 

            This, of course, would inevitably lead to several more sessions and Woohyun would have to take another trip to the bathroom before he tripped over the step when Sunggyu shoved him out unceremoniously.

 

            Now that he thought about it, Sunggyu really was a total asshole. Thank god they’re in literally different worlds now. Fuck him.

 

            “You mean you wish you were.” Sungyeol threw in his unwanted input.

 

            “Fuck _you_.”

 

            “I would be mildly offended because people usually like me reading their thoughts – it saves them the pain of articulating it and no one has ever complained about an understanding ear – but in this case I’m slightly turned on because you’re fucking hot and your fucking is hot.” Sungyeol ducked, laughing as he barely missed the wet towel Woohyun hurled at his head.

 

            “Get out of my head and get out,” Woohyun snarled, undoing his own words when he stomped out of the cabin.

 

            Sungyeol followed at his heels, unfazed by the hostility. “But really, why didn’t you just tell him? People call you a slut and think that you slept your way up but the only guy you’ve been sleeping with is the one you’re in love with.”

 

            Woohyun turned sharply at that, just remembering to keep his voice even when he spoke. “I’m not in love with him.” Woohyun said slowly, enunciating every word, “Also, I don’t give a damn what he thinks of me, nor anyone else for that matter.” The warning was clear in his voice, enough that Sungyeol acquiesced with a shrug.

 

            They made breakfast in silence, or at least Woohyun cooked up some kimchi stew while Sungyeol stared and waited. Woohyun was half-tempted to just let the creature starve but one thought of the hurt eyes he would predictably receive broke his resolve immediately. He’s a sucker like that.

 

            It wasn’t until Sungyeol got up to help wash the dishes that Woohyun spoke, staring at Sungyeol’s long back swaying like a reed at the sink as he put his feet up on the other chair. “It doesn’t matter what he thinks because he’s not in love with me.” Even as he said it, Woohyun knew it was a lie. Sort of. He cared about what people thought about him but he didn’t care for them so they kind of cancelled each other out.

 

            “What if he’s in love with you?” Sungyeol said offhandedly as he put the pots into the vacuum dryer. Woohyun could have just told him to put everything in and let the machine do the washing but he wanted Sungyeol to slave around a bit.

 

            “I don’t know,” Woohyun replied, because he really didn’t. “Probably tie myself up on his bed and scream that I’m only a slut for him or something.” He coughed into his fist, hurrying to the control panel when Sungyeol gave him a weird look.

 

           “You’re such a bottom, god.” Sungyeol scrunched his face when he joined Woohyun. Woohyun pretended not to hear anything. “Where are we going? Anything but that place.” He added.

 

            “Why not?!” Sungyeol exclaimed, losing his patience. “It’s a dust cloud that literally taste of raspberries and rum! It’s like an alcohol fest for space-tians.”

 

           Woohyun jabbed a finger at his preserver. “There. There’s plenty of alcohol in there. Every kind you want. Take it. I’d rather this than have you getting drunk and dropping me by accident. I still want to go home.”

 

            Whatever Sungyeol was gearing up to say was interrupted by the sight of several space crafts approaching them. Woohyun automatically reached for the comms button before remembering that it was completely useless now. “Any chance that they’re friendly?” Woohyun asked, only half-joking.

 

            The creature stared at the space crafts and at the red laser aimed at them. “It does say SK something. Guess it’s your own people then.”

 

            The space crafts were almost on them now. Woohyun could faintly make out the outline of the letters along the long silver bodies. Strange, even the codes were exactly what Woohyun would have expected back in his home universe. It was like he never left.

 

            “This is my cue to leave,” Sungyeol announced abruptly, starting to leave. At the panicked look Woohyun sent him, he rolled his eyes and added. “I’m going to hide myself away on this ship, I don’t want people finding me illegally levitating a space craft – from a parallel universe of all things – in the middle of space.”

 

            “What about me?” Woohyun demanded at the other’s retreating back, “What am I supposed to say?” All he received was a nonchalant wave as Sungyeol somehow coalesced into a ball of light and sunk into the walls of the ship. The control panel and lights immediately came on, the whole ship vibrating slightly as it activated itself again. If Woohyun wasn’t so busy struggling to wrest the ship back into control after starting up so suddenly, he would have been pretty impressed by Sungyeol’s choice of hiding place.

 

            Static burst over his comms. Woohyun wrinkled his nose, surprised that it was still working even in another universe. “Captain Nam, do you read me? These are reinforcements from Centaurian, coming to pick you up. What’s your status?”

 

            “Um,” Woohyun glanced at the fully working control panel helplessly. “Alive…I guess? I mean, stable.” He continued hastily at the puzzled silence. “Very stable. Good.” Woohyun swore he heard a derisive snort echo in the room.

 

            “Please set your craft to autopilot mode. We will be unlocking our docks for connection in three minutes.”

 

            “Roger that.” Here goes another hands-free trip. At this rate Woohyun might as well vaporise his medals and pilot with his mouth via voice command.

 

            As they started to move towards Base, Woohyun let himself settle back into his seat and evaluate his situation. Nothing like this has ever happened during his career, nor were they ever told of past cases like this during his time at the Military Academy. No one dropped out of a wormhole from another universe and Woohyun was frankly terrified that he would do or say something wrong and bring about a Big Crunch or something equally tragic. Would this universe crash and burn? Would it shit another one out? What about his home universe? What about the universe of all universes? What if everything ceases to exist and Woohyun would be cursed to burn in hell for his sheer stupidity? What if???

 

            “Chill the hell out,” Sungyeol’s voice sounded, making Woohyun start in his seat. “You’re giving me a headache.”

 

            “A headache’s pretty nice in comparison to an eternity of infinite agony, if you ask me.”

 

            “You’re such a drama queen. Look, if it’s any help, there is literally nothing you can do to make anything worse. The Woohyun in this universe got sucked into the black hole that _you_ escaped, thanks to me. So to the people here you’re a miracle. No one’s going to question anything.”

 

            That wasn’t very helpful, in Woohyun’s opinion. But he had always been taught to be grateful for the small things in life. And so he will choose to remain optimistic. Woohyun vaguely wondered if he would meet another Sunggyu here too. Hopefully things are less of a mess than back home ie. no one’s fucking anyone and making things weird.

 

            The three space crafts (with Woohyun’s sandwiched in the middle) arrived at Base where they slid into the landing pad before being folded in. Woohyun knew it was just a security measure in case his engine gave out halfway from damage by the black hole, but he still felt like a naughty kid holding his parents’ hands as they dragged him home.

 

            The pressure in the cavernous room stabilised with a hiss and as soon as it did, the metal doors at the far end opened and Myungsoo rushed in, running straight to Woohyun. “Cute kid,” Sungyeol commented quietly when Woohyun disembarked. “Hyung!” Myungsoo all but shrieked.

 

            With a nervous glance around, Woohyun smiled weakly. “Hey – ”

 

            And got a kiss full on the mouth.

 

            “I thought you were dead!” Myungsoo clung onto Woohyun, half-angry, half-terrified. “I told you to pay attention but no, you just had to try that ridiculous alcohol Sunggyu got _just before your fucking flight!_ ”

 

            Before Woohyun could open his mouth, Myungsoo was kissing him again, tongue and teeth included, his half-open mouth not helping in the slightest. Woohyun wanted to throw up. He could practically see Sungyeol’s delighted expression at his misery.

 

            “Captain Nam!” Sunggyu’s unmistakeable voice boomed. Myungsoo detached himself from Woohyun, still holding onto his hand. Woohyun wanted to shake him loose, it was one of the unspoken rules at the Base – no fraternization was allowed. Or at least none where your boss can see. But Myungsoo held fast to his hand and glared at Sunggyu. “I told you not to give him any and look what happened, you almost lost one of your best pilots!”

 

            Woohyun’s jaw threatened to fall off. Myungsoo and Sunggyu didn’t even look at each other back at home, Woohyun had made sure of that. And Sunggyu certainly wasn’t someone junior technicians, scratch that, _anyone_ , talked down to.

 

            “Not here and not now, Myungsoo.” Sunggyu warned tersely. Ah, so there he was. “You can scream at me later, it’s embarrassing.” Never mind. 

 

            Sunggyu turned towards him, looking him up and down critically. “Are you feeling okay, Captain Nam?”

 

            Woohyun nodded faintly. This was awkward. What exactly was the situation? He can’t possibly ask _Hey I know this is sort of weird but have we been sleeping with each other? Not that I’m propositioning you but I can’t look at you without knowing exactly how your face looks like when you’re riding me and I’m really disturbed by that image._

“Just…a faint headache.” Woohyun muttered in the end. Myungsoo clamped a hand around his arm, looking determined as he started to frog-march them out of the place. “Let’s go to the infirmary.”

 

            Sunggyu sighed, stopping them. “Soo, you can’t do your roleplay thing at the infirmary. It’s unhygienic.”

 

            Well, fuck. Time to escape. There is no way Woohyun is letting Myungsoo anywhere near him now.

 

            “I wasn’t going to!” Myungsoo retorted, though his flushed cheeks suggested that he very likely had considered it.

 

            “You know what, the headache just cured itself. Can I talk to you for a moment?” Woohyun said it all in a rush, directing his question to Sunggyu. “It’s about…the black hole.” He made up when neither looked convinced, or less suspicious for that matter.

 

            “Right, we have to talk about that.” Sunggyu has his infamous furrow between his eyebrows now. Woohyun mentally cheered. Sunggyu’s devotion to his work is a phenomenon that obviously extended over universes. Woohyun couldn’t wait to go back and torment Sunggyu endlessly about this.

 

            “It’s private.” Woohyun added when it seemed like Myungsoo had zero plans on leaving. “Top secret stuff.” Sunggyu glanced at Myungsoo and rolled his eyes. “Okay, let’s go to your office. Mine’s a mess.”

 

            Woah. So Woohyun has his own office _and_ Sunggyu and him were close enough to walk into each other’s offices? Woohyun really could get used to this.

 

            “It’s about me.” Woohyun said, straight to the point as soon as the door closed behind Myungsoo.

 

            “Isn’t it always?” Sunggyu jibed, jumping up to sit on the table. The words died in Woohyun’s throat as Sunggyu thumped the heel of his boots against the desk boredly. If he could forget for a bit, this would be exactly how he had imagined Sunggyu years ago. Not the dutiful son who struggled with the weight of his father’s expectations, never giving in, only getting better despite the rumours that surrounded him all the time. Not the man who was so fierce with himself and his crew that he never showed a single shred of himself, only the persona he chose to become. Not even the man who was so cold to Woohyun sometimes he could swear that the other would watch him die and not give a damn for more than two seconds.

 

            Not anyone but the boy who had been the closest friend he had.

 

            “Why are you looking at me like that?” Sunggyu paused in his swinging to narrow his eyes at Woohyun worriedly.

 

            “You remind me of someone.” Woohyun said without thinking. “A good friend of mine.” He added when Sunggyu sent him a questioning look.

 

            “Why so suddenly?”

 

            “Because,” Woohyun swallowed, “You look just like him. And I don’t know if I’ll see him again.”

 

            “Why wouldn’t you?” Sunggyu was confused now, hopping off the table to stride in front of Woohyun. “Weren’t we going to talk about the black hole?”

 

            Woohyun ignored him, plunging straight ahead. He looked at Sunggyu dead in the eye, “You look exactly like him. Just like how I look exactly like yours.”

 

            Sunggyu’s lips were parted in puzzlement before understanding set in. Along with anger. Lots of it.

 

            Sunggyu throws a really good punch.

 

/

 

            “Colonel? Sunggyu looked up to find Myungsoo standing over him, a puzzled expression on his face. Sunggyu couldn’t blame him, it wasn’t every day that crew members found Colonel Kim sitting on the floor in the dark staring blankly into space. Sunggyu contemplated getting up and salvaging some of his dignity but gave up on that idea quickly. He just didn’t care.

 

            “Yes?” Sunggyu said instead, craning his head back to look at the other.

 

            “I…never mind.” Myungsoo scratched at his nose, hovering uncertainly. “Are you…?” Again he trailed off. Sunggyu took pity on him and decided to give him a hand.

 

            “Yes, I was thinking about Woohyun.” When Myungsoo’s eyes bulged he quickly added, “I don’t lose my pilots on a daily basis, it’s natural for me to think about it. It’s a pain to clean it up.”

 

            “Oh.” Myungsoo said. He was quiet for a while before he said, with a touch of anger Sunggyu was pretty sure he wasn’t imagining, “Aren’t you friends with Woohyun?”

 

            Sunggyu peered up at him questioningly. It wasn’t often that junior technicians asked about the personal matters of their superiors. Even if said superior was seated on the floor like an idiot. “Sit down.” He ordered, “If you’re going to talk I’d rather not have to look up to you.”

 

            Myungsoo sat down in front of him slowly, keeping a distance between them. His eyes bored into Sunggyu as he repeated his question. “Aren’t you friends?”

 

            “He’s my pilot.” Sunggyu replied matter-of-factly.

 

          “I know what he is.” Myungsoo’s voice was growing colder. “Aren’t you two friends? Because Woohyun hyung sure talks about you a lot.” There was a certain implication Sunggyu could hear but he didn’t feel like giving in just yet.

 

            “That’s nice.” Sunggyu had to fight past the lump in his throat for a moment. “I hope it wasn’t anything unpleasant.”

 

            “Of course not, he thinks the world of you.”

 

            The lump tightened spasmodically. God, Sunggyu would kill to have Woohyun sitting in front of him now, saying these exact words. Sunggyu continued to watch Myungsoo impassively, not saying a word, waiting for the other to crack.

 

            “Don’t you miss him?” Myungsoo demanded sharply, almost glaring at Sunggyu. “More than just a pilot or a…whatever you guys are, don’t you miss him? Not even a bit?”

 

            There was a silence for a while before Sunggyu’s voice broke it. “Of course I do.” There was a raw vulnerability for a split second, one that Sunggyu hoped Myungsoo wouldn’t pick up on. It wouldn’t do anyone any good except to make it hurt more. Clearly he failed because Myungsoo’s face softened just a little bit.

 

            “Should have told him before he’s gone.” Myungsoo’s voice cracked, tears trickling down his face. He seemed completely unabashed though, wiping it away without the slightest shame. “But you know what? With all due respect, sir, I’m glad you didn’t.”

 

            Ignoring Sunggyu’s surprised look, he went on. “Woohyun hyung loved you and you were a dickhead. Hyung doesn’t cry, doesn’t admit when he’s upset, doesn’t let himself lean on anyone and he’s been in all three positions more times than I can count because of you. It wasn’t enough that you broke his heart, you had to throw it back into his face again and again. I’m glad that you’re like this now – don’t try to pretend, I can tell because I’m good with this shit – ” Sunggyu wondered with half a mind whether Myungsoo was drunk, because he definitely doesn’t seem sober with all these spilling out of his mouth. “ – because it means that now you’re in his position but he’s not here and probably never will be again.”

 

            At this, Myungsoo got up abruptly and strode away, and Sunggyu was left in the dark for the second time that night.

 

/

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Science has been mangled beyond recognition to fit this plot. But BY4743 is an actual yeast strain and not a random string of numbers. I stole it from my Prof because it looked cool.


	4. Chapter 4

 

            Woohyun hated himself for staring at Sunggyu’s crotch.

 

            In his defence it was literally filling his vision, what with him on his back and Sunggyu crouching over him, hand fisted in his shirt, crumpling the uniform. “What are you?” Sunggyu growled, “No, who are you and where did you come from?”

 

            “Nam Woohyun, human, pilot of SK 6474 and I came through a wormhole.” Woohyun said calmly, attempting to push himself to a sitting position as inoffensively as he can. Sunggyu shoved him back down.

 

            “How did you get through the wormhole?” Sunggyu continued to interrogate, thankfully letting go of his collar a little.

 

            Woohyun opened his mouth to answer and closed it again, wrinkling his forehead. He honestly had no idea how much he was allowed to say without accidentally creating a disaster so he stuck to the safe path. “I was sucked towards a black hole but I managed to escape when I tried to crash land – ”

 

            “On Merissa.” Sunggyu finished for him, face draining of colour.

 

            Woohyun paused and continued cautiously, “Yes, but I fell through a nearby wormhole before I could crash land and…here I am.” He spread his arms out on the carpeted floor, trying to look innocuous.

 

            “So you survived and now we have you.” Sunggyu spat, shaking Woohyun violently. Woohyun frowned, feeling rather put-out. Is it so hard to find a universe where people actually wanted him around? It’s not like he _chose_ to fall through the wormhole, it was Sungyeol’s fault. It wasn’t until he registered Sunggyu’s loosening grip and his teary eyes that he understood.

 

            Oh.

 

            _Oh._

If this was a parallel universe, then it meant that this universe’s Woohyun –

 

            Oh.

 

            He didn’t escape the black hole.

 

            Shit.

 

            “I’m sorry?” Woohyun said helplessly after a long silence. “Maybe you guys can collect his data and store him into a hard drive – ” he shut up with a look from Sunggyu.

 

            “Don’t tell Myungsoo.” Sunggyu said abruptly, hauling him onto his butt and eye level with Colonel Kim’s infamous stare. His eyes were still red, but aside from that there was nothing else to suggest a modicum of what he felt.

 

            “That’s a bad idea.” Woohyun immediately refuted.

 

            “I don’t care.”

 

            “How long do you think you can last?”

 

            “Watch me.”

 

            “I can’t.”

 

            “I’ll make you.”

 

            “I can’t stay here!” Woohyun threw his hands up in frustration. “I need to go back and you can’t keep me here. There has to be some kind of space law that classifies forced entrapment as a capital offence or something.”

 

           “You’re not even from this universe,” Sunggyu pointed out, “Nothing applies to you. You don’t have rights. You’re an anomaly now. A mistake.”

 

            Woohyun tried not to flinch. This universe’s Sunggyu was definitely a lot nicer than his Sunggyu, because he at least had the decency to look guilty. “Stay for a little while.” Sunggyu said, sitting back and rubbing his face with his hands. “At least until I figure out a way to break it to Myungsoo.”          

 

            “You know that it’s going to be worse if you do that right?” Woohyun replied, eyes fixed onto the worn edge of his boots. A hole was just beginning to form there from constant use but Woohyun never had the heart to throw it away. His mom made it for him when he enrolled into the Military Academy, before she got shot down in a skirmish, before Woohyun had a chance to cry to her about Sunggyu.

 

            That, and the fact that Woohyun’s feet didn’t grow much from when he was thirteen. Plus Military issued boots hurt like a bitch.

 

            “Also,” Woohyun went on relentlessly, “God knows how many laws of nature we’re going to break if you continue to keep me, _an anomaly_ , here.” He shrugged, getting up and walking over to the table rather pointlessly, feigning casualness. “Don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”

 

            “You’re already breaking them by being here.” Sunggyu retorted, “A few more days won’t make a difference.”

 

            Ugh, Woohyun should have just saved his breath. No one argues with Sunggyu once he gets an idea into his head. He sighed, crossing his arms and leaning against the desk. “So what do you suggest?”

 

            Sunggyu got up from the floor, looking excited and slightly maniacal. Woohyun would bet his ship that this was a coping mechanism, if the runny nose was anything to go by. Guess parallel universes aren’t all that different after all. “I was thinking – ”

 

            “You can send me out on another trip.” Woohyun cut him off, “I’ll break up with Myungsoo for dickhead reasons that I have yet to come up with. Then you can send me out, presumably as punishment even if we’re not supposed to do that, and I’ll conveniently disappear during the journey. There, win-win situation.” He finished triumphantly. Frankly Woohyun had been formulating this plan since fifteen minutes ago, already predicting that Sunggyu would try to make him stay. He was just waiting to find an opening to drop it in.

 

            Besides, Woohyun had a hunch that his way back might have something to do with Sungyeol. Hanging around him doesn’t seem like a bad idea, especially since the star/comet/creature explicitly promised to send him back.

 

            Sunggyu pulled a face, mulling it over. Woohyun waited patiently, already knowing that it was a done deal. “Fine,” Sunggyu sighed. Woohyun fought to keep the smug smile off of his face. Last thing he needs is to aggravate Sunggyu anymore. “But you still have to stay for a few more days. Myungsoo won’t let go of you so quickly – he’s clingy like that – and the Base is sure to have some admin rubbish to go through with you.”

 

            Woohyun shrugged, conceding. He just has to make sure to get word to Sungyeol, the last thing he needs is for the guy to disappear together with his only chance to get back. Speaking of which, he really needs to find a time to interrogate Sungyeol too. There’s something that he just knows he’s missing, but he has to figure out what first.

 

            “I guess we’ll have to go through some basics with you first.” Sunggyu said, seating himself on the back of an armchair and looking down. “Things that our Woohyun should know about…” An uncomfortable silence fell, one which Woohyun was absolutely sure that the other man was struggling not to cry. Fuck, he really was making things harder than they already are by being around, isn’t he? He chewed on his lip, feeling very guilty and very sorry and half wishing that Sungyeol hadn’t saved him. Maybe he would have crashed onto Merissa and died like he was supposed to, not hang around in a universe where his alternate self was already sort of dead.

 

            Hesitantly, Woohyun got up and went over to Sunggyu, carefully wrapping his arms around him. To his surprise, Sunggyu returned the hug fiercely. “Whatever you do,” Sunggyu began to say, his voice muffled by Woohyun’s arm. Woohyun waited, ready to spill out a bunch of empty promises and meaningless assurances, so long that it comforted Sunggyu. “Don’t do this ever again.” What.

 

            “Woohyun’s a real ass in this universe.” Sunggyu explained, pushing Woohyun away carelessly. “You know those emotionally stunted and insensitive types of guys people used to write about? Yeah, he’s exactly like that. I have no idea what Myungsoo sees in him, aside from his skills in bed, that sick bastard.”

 

            Woohyun scoffed, knowing what he was talking about immediately. Yeah, he’s not going to have any problem faking that part.

 

/

 

            “I’m here,” Sungyeol’s voice said quietly when Woohyun sneaked back into his ship. Woohyun turned from where he was inspecting the control panel and found the man crammed into a small recess in the wall of the hallway leading to the back of the ship.

 

            Woohyun stood in front of him, arms crossed and staring down at the guy. “Didn’t they find you at all?” he asked, amused. Sungyeol shook his head and got to his feet, stretching out comically long limbs. “Nope,” he headed over to the preserver, Woohyun trailing after him, “You can’t really differentiate a store of energy from another if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Especially not in a heated engine.”

 

            Sungyeol dug around a bit and pulled out a sandwich. Woohyun took it away and threw it into the incinerator. “That’s disgusting,” Woohyun told him, ignoring the disgruntled scowl sent his way. “I’ll make you something.”

 

            “From what?” Sungyeol challenged, “You have nothing on your ship that’s remotely tasty.”

 

            Woohyun thought for a moment and realised that, oops, he really did forget to stock up after Sunggyu’s mouth blanked his mind. It was almost as though he was meant to die on this trip. “Come with me to my office then,” Woohyun offered, “It’s more comfortable than this place and I have to stay for a few days before I can leave again.”

 

            “ _You_ have an office?” Sungyeol remarked rudely. “Man, you’re such a loser in comparison – but also a lot nicer,” he changed his tone hastily, sensing that Woohyun was about to retract his offer. “An office can’t possibly contain that massive heart of yours. Screw offices.”

 

            Woohyun rolled his eyes but decided to let it go. “Maybe I can come back later tonight and sneak you out, I came up with an excuse to come here but I can’t stay for long.”

 

            “What excuse?” Sungyeol asked curiously, giving up on the preserver and slamming it shut. “Also, I’ll can fit myself over you like how I did with the engine. I promise you won’t die but don’t let anyone touch you because you’re going to be about the same temperature as red-hot metal, and that’s the lowest I can go.”

 

            Woohyun squinted at him, feeling suspicious. “Are you sure? That’s a pretty tall order you’re promising.”

 

            Sungyeol squinted back. “Of course I’m sure. You just have to be careful. That’s hopefully _short_ enough for you.”

 

            Woohyun snorted, “Yeah, sure. Just give me a sec.” He turned towards his sleeping quarters, ignoring Sungyeol’s plaintive ‘where are you going?’ “The excuse wasn’t a lie, actually.” Woohyun tossed his trunk onto the bed and clicked it open. He stared at the contents for a moment, Sungyeol peering over his shoulder at the haphazardly packed crap he stuffed in the night before his flight.

 

            “Why do you have so much stuff?” Sungyeol continued to pester. Woohyun was tempted to _stuff_ one of them into his mouth if it would shut his incessant questioning for a while. Very politely, he resisted the urge and rummaged through it instead.

 

            “What are you looking for?”

 

            Woohyun spun around, exasperated. Sungyeol blinked back at him innocently. “Just something.” Woohyun mumbled, turning back to the mess spread across the bed now. It wasn’t in his trunk, maybe it finally disappeared like he had meant to do. But he couldn’t help feeling a pang of regret. He had been hoping to be able to find at least one familiar thing that he could hold onto in this place, but it seemed that he wouldn’t even have that too. Annoyed, he turned the whole trunk upside down, spilling everything out.

 

            Sungyeol yelped and stepped back from the avalanche of items. “What are you even looking for?” he asked again. Before Woohyun could snap at him, he said, “Maybe I’ll know where it is. I mean, I did spread myself all over this ship earlier.”  

 

            “I’m looking for a piece of paper.” Woohyun said, sitting heavily onto the bed with an explosive sigh. “Do you even know how that thing looks like?”

 

            “Paper?” Sungyeol frowned in thought for a moment before brightening up. “Ah! Tree corpses! You humans used to carve colours onto them, right?”

 

            Woohyun stared at him. “Well, okay. Let’s go with that.” He said awkwardly. “Anyway it’s old and yellow and really fragile. Have you seen it around?”

 

            Sungyeol ran out of the room, coming back a few moments later and brandishing the said item at Woohyun. “It was in the dashboard of your engine. I almost burnt it up by accident when I went in but figured it would be rude to do that to the tree. What’s it for?” He handed the paper to Woohyun who held it in his hands gently, joining him on the bed.

 

            “It’s nothing.” Woohyun tried to dismiss, beguiling his words by staring at it rather stupidly. “Just something Sunggyu and I had worked on together.” Woohyun added, already anticipating the inevitable question.

 

            “Sunggyu? The guy you’re fucking?”

 

            “Can you not say it like that?” Woohyun barked at him.

 

            “The guy you’re in love with.”

 

            “Let’s go with the first one.”

 

            “So what is it?” Sungyeol demanded impatiently, bouncing on the bed. “Is it a love letter? I saw people doing it a long, long time ago. But you keep saying that you two aren’t in love, or at least he is not in love with you.”

 

            “It’s a music sheet.” Woohyun cut him off, already feeling drained. “We found this paper when we were kids – this shit is rare, I mean people stopped using it for god knows how long and we just randomly found it while playing – so we decided to keep it for ourselves. It was around the time we learnt about musical instruments and notes from Dongwoo’s dad because he’s into antiques and Sunggyu got this idea to write a song on it like how people used to do on Earth. So we did,” Woohyun leaned back to rest on one arm, eyes still lingering on the worn paper. “We argued over it for ages before actually writing it down on this.”

 

            “Oh.” Sungyeol was blessedly quiet for a moment. Then; “I bet it doesn’t make sense at all.”

 

            Excuse me? “How dare you,” Woohyun gasped, affronted. He didn’t go through a cold war with Sunggyu for a week to have his work insulted.

 

            Sungyeol shrugged, promptly losing interest. “Whatever. I’m hungry, let’s go to your office.” That was the only warning he got before Sungyeol swooped towards him and there was suddenly a wave of intense heat enveloping him. It was the strangest thing Woohyun had ever felt in his life. It was like standing under a jet of hot air from a running engine, but the heat was within him, just under his skin, hot enough to prickle but there wasn’t a drop of sweat on him. “You just – okay.” Woohyun proceeded to take his own sweet time packing everything back, gingerly holding the paper between his thumb and index finger lest it bursts into flames, taking care not to crumple it.

 

            The door of the ship slid open and Woohyun peeked out, checking for any unwelcome presence. “Is anyone coming?” Woohyun hissed, feeling a bit stupid.

 

            “I can’t tell, you’re blocking me.” Sungyeol answered just as softly from his chest.

 

            Just then, Myungsoo stepped into the hangar, looking around. “Shit!” Woohyun stepped back in quickly, changing his mind when Myungsoo started walking towards them. There is no way he can pass off his current temperature as a bad fever. The younger didn’t seem to have caught sight of Woohyun yet, the other space ships obscuring Woohyun from him. Impulsively, Woohyun leapt off the side of the ship, landing rather painfully on the ground.

 

            “Hey!” Myungsoo yelled.

 

            Keeping his back to the other, Woohyun hobbled to his feet and made a mad dash to the other exit of the hangar, the paper weakly fluttering in his clenched fist.

 

            So much for being careful.


End file.
